Kashgar

Known as Kashi in Chinese, Kashgar is China’s most westerly city, situated 665 miles west of Urumqi and 80 miles east of China's border with Kyrgyzstan in the former Soviet Union.

A visit to Kashgar is like going back in time, to the era of the Silk Road. Its narrow maze of alleyways and open air markets display all the myriad faces of Central Asia with Uighur, Kirghiz, Tajik and Kazakh merchants and locals, all busy haggling over camels and sheep, brightly coloured fabrics, fur hides and hats, handmade carpets and knives.

The majority of the people in Kashgar are Uighurs who still wear their traditional costumes and lead a centuries old way of life. Every Sunday, thousands of people throng in from far and wide to buy and sell or simply for a day out at Kashgar’s famous Sunday Market.

Other sights in Kashgar include the 15th century Id Kakh Mosque, the largest in China which sometime attracts up to 10,000 worshipers and the Abakh Hoja Mausoleum, also known as the Mausoleum of the Fragrant Concubine. In the 17th century, Abakh Hoja was the ruler of Kashgar and 5 generations of his family are also buried here including his granddaughter Iparhan who was known as the Fragrant Concubine of the Chinese Emperor Qinanlong. She lived in the Forbidden City for 25 years and upon her death it took three years to bring her body back to Kashgar.

Also worth a visit are the British consulate in the grounds of the Chini Bagh hotel and the Russian Consulate in the garden of the Seman hotel, hotbeds of political intrigue during the Great Game of the 19th century.

Kashgar is also the starting point for the overland journey into Kyrgyzstan. Travel through the high Torugart Pass, crossing the land border between China and the ex-Soviet republic. It takes a day to drive from Kashgar to Naryn in Kyrgyzstan, then another day to the capital Bishkek.